Curtain-fixture



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Patented Jan. 191897'.

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P. H. 13,4xss1f3'f-11'1. UURTAIN FIXTURE.

No. 575,409. 4Patented Jan. .19, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT CEEIeE.

FRED H. BASSETT, VATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

CURTAIN-FIXTU RE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 575,409, dated January19, V1897'. Application filed October 28,1895. Serial No. 567,053. (Nomodel.)

To til whom it 11m/y oon/cern,.-

Beit known that I, FRED H. BASSETT, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of lVaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCurtain-Fixtures, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to curtain-fixtures, being an improvement on thepatent granted me January 23, 1894, which'improvement will be more fullyset forth in the following speciication and such features believed t0 benew and novel particularly pointed out in the claims to follow.

To enable others to understand my invention, reference is had to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of awindow with my improved fixture attached thereto, showing theshade-roller partially dropped from the top of said window and the lowerpart of the curtain partially raised; and Fig. 2 is a vertical centralsection through line a a of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail front elevationof the trip-plate to be attached to each end of the lower slat or rod ofthe curtain, which platccarries a bearing on which the clutch engagingthe side guide-rods is journaled. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view ofoneof the guiderod clutches. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of thecurtain-roller bracket-sleeve which embraces one of the guide-rods. Fig.(l is a detail perspective View of the opposite roller bracket-sleeve.Fig. 7 is a detail perspective View of a section of one of the sideguide-rods. Fig. 8 is a perspective detail view of the doublecord-pulley and bracket. Fig. 9 is a detail upper plan view of thedevice shown at Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a perspective detail View of thesingle cord-pulley and bracket. Fig. 1l is a detail upper plan View ofthe device shown at Fig. l0. Fig. 12 is a detail side elevation of thecord-binder and broken section of cords therein. Fig. 13 is a detailfront elevation of the cord-binder. Fig. 14 is a detail view looking inthe direction of arrow c, Fig. l, and broken view of the curtain-Slatand trip-plate through b l?, showing the relative position of thetrip-plate with the clutch, both of which are in a normal position. Fig.15 is a detail view similar to Fig. 14, showing the tri p-plate thrownaround to engage with the clutch and release it .from engagement withthe guide-rod.

lts construction and operation are as follows:

1 is the window-casing; 2, the` window; 3, the glass; 44E, the sideguide-rods, made (see Fig. 7) of a single piece of sheet metal bentaround to forni a neck portion 4b, the free ends being turned at rightangles to form the feet et, one of which feet may in some cases bedispensed with, holes 4d being formed in such feet for attaching suchguides to the casing.

5 (see Figs. 1, 2, 5, and 6) are sleeves, preferably made from a singlepiece of sheet metal, having a tubular body with hole 5a to looselyembrace the side guide-rods 4 and a narrow opening 5b to embrace theneck 4b of said rods. 5C are flange-brackets bent at right angles to thebody of such slides to support the journals of the shade-roller,presently to be described. In Fig. 6 the bracket is provided with theelongated opening 51, and in Fig. 5, 5c represents the bearing for theopposite end of the shade-roller journal with an opening 5f to admitsuch journal from the top. Preferably the sleeve shown at Fig. 5 isplaced at the left of the window, and the one shown at Fig. 6 at.. theright.

t' is a pawlless spring-roller on which the shade 7 is wound. Thisroller has the journals G and 6b to rest in the bearings of the sleeves,previously described. 8 is a spring in the end of the roller, one endbeing attached to said roller and the other end to the rod 6C.

9 is the cord-binder, having holes 9a, Figs. 12 and 13, for the cord 10to pass through, and which is gripped by said binder. This cord passesover the double pulley 11, j ournaled in the pulley-bracket 12, (seealso Figs. l and 8,) thence around the single pulley 13 and across thetop of the window-casing and over the pulley 14, j ournaled in thebracket 15, thence down through the hole 5g of the shade-roller bracket5c of the sleeve 5, to which it is made fast. The other end of this cordpasses through the catch 16, fastened to the opposite side of thewindow-casing.

9bis an overhanging projection (see Figs.

IOO

1, 12, and 13) having a hole longitudinal therethrough to admit one endof the cord 17, the lower end of this hole being enlarged to receive aknot formed in the end of said cord to prevent its withdrawal from thebinder. This cord also passes over the double pulley 11, and is attachedto the hole 51 (see also Fig. 6) of the sleeve on the right hand of thewindow, similar in all respects to the fastening of cord 10, previouslydescribed.

Releasing the cord 10 from the catch 16 the operator will have fullcontrol of the curtainroll, either to raise or lower'it. The curtainrollwill descend freely by its own weight, and the sleeves, by reason oftheir engagement with the side guide-rods and being of sufficientlength, will keep such roll in perfect alinement therewithand notpermitone end to advance. either in raising or lowering, beyond theother. In letting go of the cord 10 the roll 16L of the catch 16 willdrop in grooves provided in said catch, but not shown, and bind the saidcord against the base-plate of said catch, thus instantly checking thetravel of the curtain-roll.

The hangers or brackets for the cord-pulleysare (see Figs. 8, 9, 10, and11) preferably made of a single piece of sheetl metal and bent into theproper shape. The pulley 11, as before mentioned, is journaled in thebracket 12.

12 and 12? are supporting-feet bent at rig-ht angles to bracket 12, thelonger one being' folded over at the point e upon the upper surface, asshown. The tailpiece 12C has its free end c turned under to form abracket for the single pulley 13.

1S is a stud riveted through the free ends of the above-mentioned feet,and is adapted to enterfsee also Fig. 7) the hole 4e of the guiderod,Fig. 7, that is secured to the right-hand side ofthe casing. By reason,therefore, of

this pins engagement with its guide-rod thev pulley-bracket from whichsuch pin projects will need but the single hole 19, Fig. 9, for a n ailor screw to firmly support it to the upper right-hand corner of thecasing. The other pulley-bracket 15, Figs. 10 and 11, has also the longand short legs 15 and 15b, the short onebeing foldedover at the point j'upon the upper surface. The tailpiece 15c has the vertical bend ll,while its free end 15e is turned at right angles thereto. 2O is a slotformed through such vertical part 15, which slot opens into the hole 21of the free end 15?. This arrangement enables the bracket to be slippedover the endl of the guide-rod at the leftjliand sideof the window, theslot 2O em,- bracing theneck portion of such rod, while the bead 4, orrod proper, (see also Fig. 7,) entersthe hole 21,. Fig. 11, of thesingle pulley-bracket frame. This feature, in connection with thehole22for a nail or screw, will be sufficient to firmly brace and support suchf bracket.

The foregoing description relates entirely to the construction andmanipulation of the curtain-roller or upper part of the shade, raising,lowering, and securing it in any position throughout the entire lengthof the window.

The lower or bottom end of the curtain is constructed and operated asfollows:

23, Fig. 1, are clutches which embrace the side guide-rods'4 and 4". Asboth of these clutches operate alike and are alike in construction, abrief description of one will serve for both.

23a, Fig. 4, is a circular clutch-opening adapted to loosely embrace theguide -rod proper.

23b is a rearward projection having the hole or bearing 23C therethroughto receive the journal g of the trip-plate 26, Fig. 3, and whenassembled thereto the end of such journal is headed to preventwithdrawal.

It being understood (see also Fig. 1) that there are two trip plates aswell as two clutches, therefore the parts connected therewith will bedesignated by the same reference-numbers. These trip-plates arespecially designed to be .attached to the bottom slat of a curtain thatis-taperi-ng in cross-section. Therefore said plates have the centralportion enlarged and of circular form, so as to nearly cover the widthof the slat 27, (see also Figs. 14 and 15,) and through the hole insuchcentral part are placed the screws 28.

29, Fig. 2, is a nut on the projecting threaded ends of these screws tobind vsaid plates and slat together. The tailpieces 26b arey curveddownward, so as to restagainst the lower and thicker part of thecurtain-Slat 27, so that there will be sufficient thickness of materialto support the wood-screws 30, Fig. 1.

As before mentioned, the clutches 23 are journaled on the ends of thetrip-plates, and by reason of the bulkof the metal of which suchclutches are composedbeing forward ofA these journals they will dropAinto the angular position shown atFigs. 2 vand 14, so thatthe oppositeedges of the hole 23a (see also Fig. 4) will gripctheguide-rod withwhich` it is engaged and so prevent the roller-sprin g drawing up thelower part of the curtain. When therefore it is desired to elevate thebottom of the curtain, the bottom of slat 27 is tilted forward by meansof the central cord 31, so as to bring. the trip26 of the trip platesagainst the bottom of the projection 23d, which operation Vwill. elevatethe clutches proper into a horizontal position, as shown at Fig. 15,releasing their grip on the guide-rods, whereupon. theroller-spring willact and draw the curtain up and continue todo so until the slat isreleased, when all the parts will inA stantly assume :their normalposition (shown at Figs. 2 and 14) and the clutches again grip theguide-rods and stopping further move ment of thecurtain.

The object in pivotally supporting the clutches to the trip-plateat eachend of the bottom curtain-Slat is that each clutchis thus caused to actindependent of theother, and both are sure to exert an equal grip on itsred IOO IIO

spective guide-rod. rlhis result could not be achieved Were they rigidlyattached so that both would turn with the slat, as it would beimpracticable and almost impossible to cause them to both grip the rodsat the same time. One would grip while the other would be loose, andthat side of the curtain having the free clutch would be drawn up by thetension of the roller-spring and throw the lower edge out of alinement.Even if they could be set true the result would be of short duration,owing to the tendency of the Wooden slat to spring or warp out of shapeand thus throw one of the clutches out of engagement.

I do not wish to be confined to any particular means for securing thefree end of the operating-cord l0, as various means besides the oneshown can be used for this purpose.

An important feature of my invention lies in operating both ends of acurtain-roll from a cord or cords at one side of the casing, combinedwith one or more cords running across the top of the window andconnecting with the end or ends of the curtain-roll. Therefore I do notwish to be confined to the number of said cords or to the number ofcordpulleys therefor, or how located, except that they must be placednear the upper end of the casing and adapted to carry a cord or cordsacross the window, so as to connect with the opposite `end of thecurtain-roll, or at least with the bracket in which such roll isjournaled, so that the said curtain-roll can be raised and lowered bythe manipulation of the cord or cords at one side of the casing insteadof the center of the window.

The independent tripping feature of the lower curtain-Slat is shown inconnection with clutches and side guide-rods. It will be understood,however, that this feature is also applicable to any clutchingarrangement th at could be utilized in vertical slots on the side of thewindow-casing, or, in fact, any temporary holding device for the lowercurtain-Slat whereby said device is tripped or caused to release itshold during the vertical movement of the curtain.

While I show the guide-rods also in connection with the arrangement ofthe cords and pulleys, it will be understood that such cords and pulleyscan be used in connection with other methods for supporting the ends ofa vertically-movable curtain-roller.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with the bottom slat of a window-curtain of verticalside guide-rods attached to the sides of the window-casing, clutchesengaging therewith, a tripeplate on each end of said slat, said clutchesindependently journaled to said plates, means on said plates, so that,when the lower edge of said slat is laterally tilted,toward theclutches, said clutches will release their grip on the guide-rods, byreason of the trip on said plates engaging therewith, so that, the lowerend of the curtain will be drawn up by the action of the spring in thecurtain-roller, and when the said slat is released it will assume itsnormal position and the clutches will drop by their own weight andrengage with the guide-rods, as described.

2. In a curtain-fixture, carrying a pawlless spring-roller and sideguide-rods, the combination, with the lower slat and guide-rods, of aclutch adapted to engage said rods, a tripping devicev attached to suchlower slat and engaging with said clutch so as to release its hold onthe guide-rods and thereby bring the lower end of the curtain under theinfluence of the roller-spring, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a curtain-fixture, having a vertically-movablecurtain-roller and supports therefor, of cord-pulleys located at theupper and opposite corners of the window-casing, said pulleys supportedin brackets made from a single piece of sheet metal and bent in the formsubstantially as shown so that, one of said brackets will support avertical and a horizontal pulley so as to carry the overhead, orhorizontal, cord close to the upper surface of the casing and to thevertical pulley in the opposite corner thereof, substantially as setforth.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield andState ofConnecticut, this 18th day of October, A. D. 1895.

FRED H. BASSETT.

Witnesses:

Guo. D. PHILLIPS, LEWIS F. PEL'roN.

